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Draft Updates: Dort, Sirvydis, Reid, Shittu, More

April 3rd, 2019 at 5:46pm CST by Luke Adams

Arizona State freshman guard Luguentz Dort reportedly intends to formally declare for the 2019 NBA draft next week, according to Nancy Audent of French-language TVA Sports.

Audent’s report doesn’t confirm whether Dort intends to remain in the draft or if he’ll just test the waters, but he’s a potential top-30 pick — currently, he ranks 27th overall on Jonathan Givony’s big board at ESPN.com. According to Chris Karpman of 247Sports.com, multiple people familiar with Dort’s thinking have previously said he’ll likely go pro if the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee says he’s a probable first-round pick.

In his first – and possibly only – season with the Sun Devils, Dort averaged 16.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.3 APG, and 1.5 SPG.

Here are more of today’s early entrant decisions:

  • Lithuanian wing Deividas Sirvydis tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN.com that he has submitted his paperwork to enter the draft. Sirvydis, No. 48 prospect in ESPN’s top 100, currently plays in the Lithuanian league and EuroCup for Lietuvos Rytas.
  • LSU freshman center Naz Reid has elected to enter the 2019 NBA draft and pursue a professional career, he announced today in an Instagram post. “I will be entering the NBA Draft with an agent in hopes of finally fulfilling a dream I believe is my destiny,” wrote Reid, the No. 50 prospect on ESPN’s big board.
  • Vanderbilt freshman Simisola Shittu will hire an agent and test the draft waters with the intent of keeping his name in the 2019 pool, he tells Givony. The 6’10” forward is the No. 81 prospect on ESPN’s big board.
  • Sophomore guard Charlie Brown, the leading scorer for Saint Joseph’s this season and the No. 96 prospect on ESPN’s top 100, is entering his name in the 2019 NBA draft, as Mike Jensen of Philly.com relays. Although Brown doesn’t yet have to make a final decision, it sounds like he’ll likely keep his name in the draft, having said in a statement that he’s “ready to move on to the professional ranks.”
  • The following prospects who fall outside of ESPN’s top 100 are also declaring for the draft:
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And-Ones: Trade Deadline, Cap Space, 2019 Draft

January 21st, 2019 at 9:44pm CST by Luke Adams

For a second consecutive season, the NBA’s trade deadline will fall earlier in the calendar year than it has in the past. The February 7 deadline arrives well before the All-Star break, whereas as recently as 2017, the All-Star Game took place several days before the deadline.

As Danny Leroux of The Athletic writes, the earlier deadline could have some unintended consequences. For one, the buyer/seller ratio is one-sided — so many teams are still within striking distance of the top eight in their respective conferences that there may only be a handful of full-fledged sellers, while most of the rest of the league’s teams will be buyers.

Leroux points to the Magic as one example of a team that could be impacted significantly by the early deadline. Despite an underwhelming 19-27 record, Orlando is still just three games out of the No. 8 seed in the East. With a couple extra weeks to evaluate their playoff odds, perhaps the Magic would be more inclined to sell off pieces like Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross, and Jonathon Simmons. If the team is still in the postseason hunt by February 7 though, those players may stay put.

If trade activity is somewhat tepid at this season’s deadline, the NBA should consider re-evaluating its calendar for future seasons, Leroux writes.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Which teams will have cap room during the summer of 2019? In an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks previews the market, identifying the clubs that figure to have the most flexibility – like the Mavericks, Pacers, Hawks, and Kings – along with a few teams that could be “wild cards” (the Pelicans, Jazz, and Bucks).
  • Elsewhere in ESPN’s Insider-only section, Jonathan Givony recently published a two-part feature examining several of the top international draft prospects, including Georgian big man Goga Bitadze and Lithuanian forward Deividas Sirvydis, among others. Bitadze and Sirvydis rank 31st and 33rd on Givony’s most recent big board for 2019.
  • In the wake of the NBA’s annual trip to London last week, Mark Woods of ESPN.com explores the effect that a homegrown British basketball star might impact the perception of the NBA in the United Kingdom. As Woods outlines, British basketball is still waiting for its first high-profile star, while other European countries like Germany (Dirk Nowitzki), France (Tony Parker), and Spain (the Gasol brothers) have had major NBA success stories over the last couple decades.
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Atlantic Notes: Celtics, D. Green, Raptors, Brand

January 17th, 2019 at 12:41pm CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics have had more ups and downs this season than their primary Eastern Conference competitors, but president of basketball operations Danny Ainge reiterated over the weekend that he’s not feeling any pressure to shake up his roster by making trades in the next three weeks, as Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe relays.

“It just depends,” Ainge said on Saturday. “I don’t feel a need to have to do something. I like every guy on our team. I like our roster. There will be [trade] conversations, obviously. Every year it happens with every team. But we’ll only do something that makes sense.”

A more pressing issue in Boston may be making sure that all the Celtics’ current players are on the same page, after a series of incidents that included a Jaylen Brown/Marcus Morris on-court confrontation, Kyrie Irving expressing frustration with an end-of-game play call and with his young teammates, and Brown publicly firing back at Irving. However, making his weekly appearance on Toucher & Rich today, Ainge said he doesn’t view any of those incidents as worrisome.

“To me, these aren’t stories,” Ainge said, per Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston. “They’re not a big deal. I mean, yes, Kyrie could have done better. Yes, Jaylen could have done better. But these are people. These are kids. These are guys playing with emotion in a glass house. They’re real people with real emotions; they’re not perfect and I don’t ever expect them to be.

“We live in a real sensitive society now,” Ainge added. “And all these things that we’re talking about: ‘Oh, you mean a veteran player called out the young guys? Oh wait, a young guy stood up for himself?’ I mean, where is the drama? I don’t understand it. Quit being sensitive. That’s the story. That’s my story.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • Danny Green‘s free agency decision won’t alter the direction of the Raptors in the same way that Kawhi Leonard‘s will, but Green has been a crucial piece in Toronto this season and is also on an expiring contract. As James Herbert of CBSSports.com writes, Green is enjoying his time with the Raptors and wouldn’t mind staying with the club beyond this season — alongside Leonard. “I hope he sticks around as long as I’m here,” Green said of Kawhi. “And I hope to stick around.”
  • Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri is doing some in-person scouting in Lithuania, according to Donatas Urbonas, who tweets that Ujiri watched top prospect Deividas Sirvydis this week (hat tip to Sportando). ESPN’s Jonathan Givony had the Lithuanian forward ranked at No. 31 in his most recent mock draft.
  • In an in-depth profile on new Sixers general manager Elton Brand, Michael Lee of The Athletic looks at Brand’s path from No. 1 pick to an NBA front office, and his first big swing after landing the job — the acquisition of Jimmy Butler.
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